Pawan Kalyan and I settled the losses: Trivikram on the failure of Agnyaathavaasi
Trivikram, director of Agnyaathavaasi, said despite the film’s dismal show at the box office, Pawan Kalyan and he remain the best of friends. His next film is with Jr NTR.
In 2018, Telugu filmdom witnessed one of its biggest disasters in the form of Pawan Kalyan starrer Agnyaathavaasi, which sank without a trace at the box office.
The film marked the third-time collaboration of the highly successful combo of Pawan and Trivikram, who had delivered blockbusters such as Jalsa and Attarintiki Daaredi in the past. Its failure came as a huge blow for the industry and paved way for rumours about the end of the long-standing relationship between Trivikram and Pawan.
In his latest interview to a Telugu daily, Trivikram opened up about the failure of the film and how its losses were settled even before the producers could ask.
Agnyaathavaasi tells the story of a son who comes out of exile to investigate the murder of his billionaire father. The film was rumoured to be based on French thriller, Largo Winch, and upon its release was threatened to be sued by the director of the latter.
Made and sold on a budget of ₹90 crore, the film managed to earn merely ₹60 crore from its theatrical run. “Pawan, I and the producer settled ₹25 crore losses to the distributors even before they could come and ask us. We didn’t do it because we’re some great people; we did it because we felt that was the right thing to do. It was Pawan’s idea to not celebrate at the expense of others and hence we settled the losses,” said Trivikram, adding that the failure of the film left him disappointed. “I’d be lying if I said the failure didn’t affect me. It did to a great extent. I was disappointed with myself. On my new project, I’m working with more care, passion and discipline.”
Trivikram also clarified that the film’s failure hasn’t affected his relationship with Pawan. “We’ll always remain good friends.”
On the career front, Trivikram has joined hands with Jr NTR for his new film Aravinda Sametha, which marks their first-time collaboration. The first-look poster of the film - featuring NTR in an all new chiseled avatar -- was recently released on the occasion of his birthday.
Having gone on the floors in April, the team has so far shot a major action episode in the first schedule of the film. Pooja Hegde plays the leading lady. Apparently, NTR lost 15 kilos for the project. According to producer S Naga Vamsi, NTR’s commitment for his physical makeover for the project stunned him. Via a statement, he said: “His commitment to get into this physique for the character was really amazing. There was lot of pain and dedication required to get into this avatar. There were days where he had to take 15 liters of water a day and there were some days where he had only 2 liters of water.”
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